Bishop debunks kitchen myths

Updated 2:50 pm, Friday, September 28, 2012

Jack Bishop is in the lineup of six authors for the 2012 Express-News Book & Author Luncheon

Jack Bishop is in the lineup of six authors for the 2012 Express-News Book & Author Luncheon

Photo: Courtesy Photo

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“The Science of Good Cooking” is the latest book from Jack Bishop, editorial director for America’s Test Kitchen and Cook’s Illustrated

“The Science of Good Cooking” is the latest book from Jack Bishop, editorial director for America’s Test Kitchen and Cook’s Illustrated

Bishop debunks kitchen myths

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Cooks, both professional and amateur, often learn that searing meat seals in juices.

Not true, say the editors of Cook's Illustrated in their latest book, “The Science of Good Cooking.”

Searing steaks and chicken breasts does add flavor and brown the meat, but experimentation shows it doesn't reduce moisture loss.

That's one of the many myths debunked in the 500-page book, which represents 20 years of research in the magazine's culinary laboratory, as seen on the PBS show “America's Test Kitchen.”

Thousands of experiments have yielded the keys to the tenderest burgers, the chew-iest cookies, the flakiest pastries and the fluffiest rice. Sometimes those methods are contrary to conventional cooking wisdom.

“What we're really trying to do is straddle that line between a science book and a cookbook,” Jack Bishop, the editorial director of America's Test Kitchen, the home of Cook's Illustrated, said in a phone interview. “We make that connection for people so they can really see how a basic understanding of what's happening to your food from the scientific approach will translate into becoming a better cook.”

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The book is divided into 50 simple concepts, such as “Salty Marinades Work Best,” “Good Frying Is All About Oil Temperature” and “Sugar Changes Texture (And Sweetness).” Besides the chemistry behind the concept, each chapter includes several recipes.

“I think there are more and more people who are interested in the scientific approach,” Bishop says. “They're less interested in the touchy-feely table-top art of cooking. I think this book is primarily meant to talk to them.”

Bishop taught himself to cook as a teenager, which made him “a good person to have done this book,” he says.

“I'm naturally skeptical because I didn't necessarily go through the indoctrination phase of people who go to cooking school, where you're told things like, ‘Searing seals in juices.' So I'm like, ‘Is that really true? Why would that be true?'”